Vincent T. DeVita
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Vincent Theodore DeVita Jr. (born March 7, 1935) is the Amy and Joseph Perella Professor of Medicine at Yale Cancer Center, and a Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health. He directed the Yale Cancer Center from 1993 to 2003.<ref name="ASCO"/> He has been president of the board of directors of the American Cancer Society (2012-2013).<ref name="ACS2012">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Distillations"/> He is internationally recognized as a pioneer in the field of oncology for his work on combination-chemotherapy treatments.<ref name="ASCO"/><ref name="Freddie"/>
Early life and education
Vincent DeVita was born in The Bronx, New York.<ref name="WHO">Template:Cite book</ref>
DeVita attended the College of William & Mary, receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in 1957. In 1961 he earned his MD degree with distinction from the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences.<ref name="Freddie"/><ref name="ASCO">Template:Cite news</ref>
Career
DeVita joined the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in 1963 as a clinical fellow, working with Emil "Tom" Frei, Emil J. Freireich and others. He returned as a senior investigator in 1966 after completing his training at Yale-New Haven Medical Center in 1965.<ref name="Carter"/><ref name="Jacobs"/><ref name="Groopman">Template:Cite news</ref> At NCI, DeVita held the following posts: Senior Investigator in the Solid Tumor Service, Head of the Solid Tumor Service, Chief of the Medicine Branch, Director of the Division of Cancer Treatment and Clinical Director of NCI (as of 1975).<ref name="Carter"/>
While at NCI, he helped to develop MOPP, a four-drug combination that was the first successful combination chemotherapy program. At the time, many oncologists believed such an approach was too toxic and would do more harm than good. MOPP was used to treat Hodgkin's disease and diffuse large cell lymphomas, reducing the likelihood of dying from Hodgkin's disease from nearly 100% to around 30%.<ref name="Freddie"/> DeVita's results, presented in 1965 and 1970 were initially viewed with considerable disbelief.<ref name="Jacobs"/> By demonstrating that a combination-chemotherapy regimen could be successful, DeVita established the basis for further combination therapies, which became a mainstay of cancer treatment.<ref name="Distillations"/><ref name="Jacobs">Template:Cite book</ref> In addition, in collaboration with George Canellos, DeVita developed the combination chemotherapy CMF, which still remains a useful therapy for breast cancer.<ref name="Mukherjee"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Canellos">Template:Cite journal</ref>
From 1977 to 1978, DeVita was the president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).<ref name="presidents">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1980, DeVita was appointed Director of the NCI and the National Cancer Program by President Jimmy Carter,<ref name="Carter">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Greenberg">Template:Cite journal</ref> a position he held until 1988.<ref name="BJC"/>
From January 1989 to 1993, DeVita was Physician-in-Chief and Attending Physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where he was part of the program for Molecular Pharmacology.<ref name="BJC">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Altman">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Piccini">Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1993 he returned to Yale, where he became Director of Yale Cancer Center, serving from 1993 to 2003. In 2004, he was named as the Amy and Joseph Perella Professor of Medicine at Yale University, a position to be renamed the Vincent T. DeVita Professor of Medicine after his tenure. He is currently the chair of the Yale Cancer Center advisory board and is professor of internal medicine and of epidemiology and public health at Yale's medical school.<ref name="Awards">Template:Cite journal</ref>
From 2012-2013, DeVita served as president of the board of directors of the American Cancer Society.<ref name="ACS2012"/> DeVita currently serves on the editorial boards of numerous scientific journals and has authored over 450 scientific articles. He is a co-editor of the textbook Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology, in its 10th edition,<ref name="Distillations"/> and serves as the co-editor-in-chief of The Cancer Journal.<ref name="ASCO"/>
He is also the co-author, with his daughter Elizabeth DeVita-Raeburn, of the autobiographical book, The Death of Cancer: After Fifty Years on the Front Lines of Medicine, a Pioneering Oncologist Reveals Why the War on Cancer Is Winnable—and How We Can Get There.<ref name="Distillations"/><ref name="Zugner">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="NPR"/><ref name="Piccini"/>
He was a participant in Ken Burns' 2015 PBS documentary Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies,<ref name="Bock">Template:Cite news</ref> which was based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Siddhartha Mukherjee.<ref name="Mukherjee">Template:Cite book</ref>
Personal life
DeVita married Mary Kay Bush,<ref name="Jacobs"/> with whom he had two children, Ted and Elizabeth. DeVita diagnosed his son Ted's aplastic anemia. Ted thereafter was placed in a sterile environment for his safety and died in 1980.<ref name="NPR">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="DeVita-Raeburn">Template:Cite news</ref>
Ted's situation, and that of David Vetter, inspired the 1976 TV movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble starring John Travolta.<ref name="McNees">Template:Cite news</ref> Elizabeth has written about the experience of losing her brother in The Empty Room.<ref name="NPR"/>
DeVita has been treated for prostate cancer.<ref name="Distillations" />
Awards
- 1972, Albert Lasker Clinical Research Award<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 2007, Statesman Award, American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)<ref name="ASCO"/>
- 2007, FREDDIE Special Award for Public Service<ref name="Freddie">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 2009, Distinguished Medical Science Award, Friends of the National Library of Medicine<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- 2014, fellow, American Association for Cancer Research<ref name="Gaudette">Template:Cite news</ref>
Bibliography
- Template:Cite book<ref name="Distillations">Template:Cite journal</ref>
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